Aunt Bill's Brown Candy

A friend of mine came over this cold, clear Sunday afternoon, and we made all sorts of Christmas candy--chocolate fudge, tiger butter, peppermint bark, saltine toffee. What we were most excited about though, is a crazy old-fashioned recipe called Aunt Bill's Brown Candy. This isn't a recipe for the faint of heart. There's a daunting amount of sugar and butter and stirring, then a wild chemistry experiment involving baking soda and a frothing sugar lava. As the candy cools, it roils in slow amber motion, looking alive. It then solidifies into something between a pecan praline and a caramel. I can't even imagine how many calories a piece has (200? 400?), and there's no dignified way to eat it because it's incredibly sticky. But mmmmmm . . . undeniably delicious.

That Aunt Bill, she was onto something.